Sky Sports.com

Hearn: PDC chief

Also see

• Order of Merit
• On Sky TV
• Premier League Results/Fixtures
• Premier League Table

PDC chairman Barry Hearn plans to make darts a global phenomenon after watching another hugely popular Premier League season come to a close in Cardiff.

Phil Taylor may have proved his power once again by lifting a fourth Premier League crown, but although the champion has been the same every year the tournament has certainly moved on.

'The Power' defeated young gun James Wade 16-8 in the final in Cardiff, after blasting past fellow Stoke thrower Adrian Lewis in the semis with a frightening average of nearly 113.

13-time world champion Taylor has vowed to take his, and the game's, standards even higher, and PDC boss Hearn intends to do the same with the sport he has helped become a huge success.

This year saw a record 8,000 screaming darts fans packed inside the new Liverpool Echo Arena to create modern darting history, as bigger venues were used than ever before in the Premier League.

With these big city arenas now regularly used for the event, and prize money shooting through the roof, Hearn has targeted world domination for the men on the oche.

Arena

The 2008 Premier League was the biggest and best yet and Hearn told skysports.com of his delight at seeing a season of huge sell-out venues.

"The 2008 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts has been phenomenal success," Hearn told skysports.com.

"With almost 70,000 tickets being sold across the 15 nights, it has become the UK's biggest indoor sporting event.

"Next year's going to be bigger and better as we chase crowds to surpass this year's record at Liverpool of over 8,000 and of course we look for another year of increased ratings of our programmes on Sky Sports and around the world."

After being written off at the start of the season as wholesale changes seemed to have backfired, Taylor showed once again why he is the best ever with a dominating display in Cardiff.

"Phil Taylor winning four consecutive titles is an unbelievable feat and I know he's set on making it five next year," Hearn added.

"But he can expect some very stern competition, and I was particularly impressed by James Wade this year.

"To reach the final of the Premier League in his debut year of the competition is a fantastic achievement and shows how his game has matured."

World vision

On the future, Hearn has his sights set on bringing together a worldwide darts circuit to bring the game to a global audience.

Although with several tournaments in America, including the Las Vegas Desert Classic, with prize money and popularity on the up and up Hearn hopes the sport will continue to flourish.

"We will be meeting in June to look at and assess the long-term future of professional darts," he continued.

"The PDC circuit is rapidly moving towards £5 million prize money next year and the intention is for this to increase further in the foreseeable future towards £10 million.

"We have exciting and amazing plans for the sport and by working together we can change professional darts forever, with the players being the main beneficiaries.

"Prize money is at an unprecedented level already but we have not reached the peak yet!

"We have ambitious plans to create a worldwide professional circuit and to continue taking darts to a new audience."